


Eyes make their peace in difficulties

by starsandnightskies



Category: Divergent Series - Veronica Roth, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Divergent AU, I mentioned some actors but they're not relevant, M/M, larry stylinson - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-09
Updated: 2014-06-09
Packaged: 2018-02-04 00:34:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1760827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starsandnightskies/pseuds/starsandnightskies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Deciding who you want to be is harder than Harold thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eyes make their peace in difficulties

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> for [Marleen](http://archiveofourown.org/users/xxKeepcalmandlove1Dx/pseuds/xxKeepcalmandlove1Dx) so she might be tempted to read all Divergent books ;)
> 
> Warning for a possibility of inaccuracies on Divergent knowledge and another warning because my English has gotten rusty so please forgive me for any mistakes.

**_Eyes make their peace in difficulties (Divergent AU)_ **

Today is the day of his aptitude test. Harold is nervous. Of course he is, he doesn't know what to expect because no one is allowed to tell what happens when you take your aptitude test. And it will decide his future, who he's going to be for the rest of his life. On one hand, he doesn't want to leave his family but on the other hand, he doesn't think he fits in with the peace-loving musicians from Amity.

"Harold, darling, stop fidgeting", his mother smiles and she puts a hand on his leg which is bouncing up and down. 

"Sorry Mum", he mumbles and he keeps his leg still. At least, he tries. His mother gives him a sideways hug and puts another piece of bread in his hand. His sister, Gemma, smiles mysteriously at him. Whether it's supposed to be encouraging or not, it doesn't work. He starts bouncing his leg again and catches the eye of his friend, Ashton, across the room. Ashton doesn't look nervous but Harold has no doubt Ashton will stay in Amity.

He's everything a member of Amity is supposed to be. According to Harold, that is.

After breakfast, he takes the bus to school with Ashton and Niall, another Amity boy. He's very tempted to get up when an old lady steps onto the bus but several Abnegation kids beat him to it. The lady thanks them and takes a seat. 

The boy who has given up his seat looks up when he feels Harold looking at him. Not at all like other Abnegation kids, he doesn't cast his eyes to the ground immediately but instead stares back with piercing blue eyes. It confuses Harold. Why does the kid do that? Aren't Abnegation supposed to only stick to themselves? Or is that just an idea he got because it's mostly what the Abnegation do because no one really talks to them? He doesn't know. And he doesn't want to know either, he tells himself. So he looks away.

Much too soon, they arrive at school and get off the bus. All the kids who are sixteen and have to take their aptitude test need to wait in the school cafetaria for their names to be called. Harold knows it's going to be a while because his last name starts with a S.

They get a lecture on how they are the future of the faction system and, judging from the woman's voice, she's given this talk at least twenty times.

And she starts calling off their names. "Maisie Andrews, Richard Armitage, Regulus Black, Elliot Brown..." The initial excitement in the cafetaria dies down after a couple of minutes. The Dauntless are becoming increasingly noisier in their card game and Harold can't decide if he wants to be a part of them or if it's annoying. So he ignores them and his confusion and chats with Ashton and Niall instead. 

Suddenly, he feels stared at and when he turns around, he sees the boy from the bus looking at him from the Abnegation table. Him again. Why is he looking at Harold? 

He expects the boy to look away as soon as he's caught staring but instead, the boy winks before continuing to talk in a hushed tone with the girl next to him. 

"Harold, why are you looking at the Abnegation table? It's not like they're gonna say hi or anything." Niall snickers at his own joke. 

"Hey, be nice", Ashton scolds. Niall doesn't get to reply because his name is called, together with Ashton and a couple of other kids. 

"Good luck!" Harold calls after them and they disappear into in a special part of the building, built only for the aptitude tests. Minutes go by and Harold wonders how his friends did, what their results are. Will they stay in Amity? Transfer to another faction? 

He drums on the table with his fingers and starts bouncing his leg again. The tables get emptier as more and more names are called and finally, it's his turn. He gets called together with a Louis Tomlinson (not a clue who that is, he thinks), Aidan Turner (Dauntless, he knows) and a few others he doesn't hear because he's pushing back his chair with a little more noise than necessary.

The Bus Boy, as Harold has secretly started calling him, gets up as well. When they enter the hallway with ten seperate doors, Harold stops in front of the first door as he was the first name called. Bus Boy brushes past him, after a noisy Dauntless boy with dark curls and a cheeky smile, and for a moment Harold thinks Bus Boy whispers "Good luck" in his ear. 

Just when he decides he must've imagined it, the door opens. He's introduced to a Dauntless volunteer by the name of Tori and she gives him a tiny vial of blue liquid. He drinks it and when he closes his eyes for just a split second and opens them again, Tori is gone. 

His own forest green eyes stare at him from the mirrors all over the room. He looks around and his own face follows him everywhere.

"Choose", a voice says. His own voice. It sounds strangely familiar but very different at the same time. It's odd. But before he can dwell on that for too long, a block of cheese and a knife appear before him. If there's a knife, there must be something dangerous coming, he reasons and so he takes the knife.

The room seems to twirl around him and then he's faced with a dog. An angry, growling, teeth-baring dog. So he holds the knife in front of him, as if to threaten the dog. He knows he would never, could never harm the dog intentionally but maybe it'll scare the animal off. It does - the dog backs off and disappears.

Seconds later, the room disappears around him and suddenly, he's standing on the bus. A man appears in front of him, holding a picture of a pretty girl with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. She seems familiar in some way.

"Do you know her? Do you know where she is?" the man yells at Harold. A little voice in the back of his head whispers that the girl is in danger, even more so if he tells this angry man that yes, he knows this girl and yes, he knows where  she is. "Do you know this girl?" he yells again. Harold decidedly shakes his head. And then the simulation ends.

Tori smiles at him. It's a tired smile, he notices. Maybe's she's seen too many people take the test and get a result they didn't want.

"Congratulations", she says. "The result for your aptitude test is Dauntless." 

What.

"What?" he asks. 

"Your result is Dauntless."

"Dauntless? But I'm not brave or noisy", he protests. "Surely, there must've been made a mistake."

"We do more than just jumping off moving trains and kicking puppies." When he looks even more shocked, she adds "That was a joke. We don't kick puppies. And it's up to you what you choose. The aptitude test isn't binding, you can stay in your current faction or transfer to any of the others. Good luck at the Choosing Ceremony." She almost pushes him out the door, another door than the one he entered through.

Harold stares at the closed door for a couple of minutes before he decides to take the bus home.

Dauntless.

What's he supposed to do?

 _Transfer to Dauntless,_ his old friend Liam would say.  _That's where you belong, where you fit in._ Liam was born in Amity but transferred to Erudite because he wanted to learn. But what does Dauntless have to offer Harold? The only things he knows about Dauntless is that they travel by train and that they guard the fence. 

That's not what he wants to do for the rest of his life. He wants a nice house in the sunny fields of Amity, start a family, do something for society.  _But,_ a little voice whispers,  _will you be able to do something for society in Amity?_

 _We grow crops, food for the entire city,_ he argues. But he knows he doesn't mean growing crops. He wants to make a difference. But can he make that difference in Dauntless?

Questions keep on showing up in his dreams that night and he doesn't sleep well, knowing what tomorrow will bring. 

☮

His mother wakes him up. "Good morning, darling. It's time to get up! Today's the Choosing Ceremony!"

She sounds painfully excited, Harold realizes. Because his sister Gemma stayed in Amity and because she thinks he'll do the same. But he doesn't know. 

Breakfast and the trip to the Choosing Ceremony pass by without Harold realizing it. They enter the building, the hall where it's supposed to happen and Harold sees five bowls. One for each faction. He knows he's supposed to make a cut in his hand and let the blood drip into one of the bowls, the faction of his choice. 

They sit down in the seats for Amity and Ashton squeezes his shoulder shortly, as if to say 'You can do it.'

An Erudite woman gives a short speech and wishes them good luck. One of the Abnegation leaders starts calling out names, one by one this time. The first 12 people choose the faction of their origin. And when Louis Tomlinson is called, Harold sees it's the Bus Boy. He expects him to choose Abnegation, his old faction, but he doesn't. 

The boy, Louis, chooses Dauntless.  _He is brave enough to know where he belongs and to choose the faction where he belongs,_ Harold thinks. Gasps are heard from around the hall and a woman covers her face with her hands - his mother probably. He's the first transfer of this year. 

Harold's mother sees him looking at the woman and she smiles reassuringly at him. "It's okay", she whispers when his name is called. "I love you." And with those words on his mind, he approaches the bowls and picks up the knife. 

He makes a cut on his palm and, for one tiny moment, he hesitates. Staying in Amity is familiar and tempting but he can't be, won't be someone he's not. And so his blood drips on the sizzling coals of the Dauntless bowl. More gasps are heard but there's also applause and when he looks at his mother, she smiles proudly and Harold can almost hear her say "Well done, darling. I'm proud you chose who you are."

He sits down among the Dauntless, next to Louis and puts a plaster on his cut. "Well done", Louis says. 

"You too", he replies. 

After the Ceremony, they leave the building with a lot of noise and Harold can't help but smile a little. Although that smile disappears when they climb up into poles, towards a platform. It seems like their first initiation test is to jump on the train. 

He doesn't think, he just does it and he makes it into the train. Jumping off is a little more difficult but again, he makes it onto the roof of the building. 

"Initiates, over here", a voice yells. Harold gets up and dusts the grind of his trousers. A group of children forms at the edge of the roof and a man with tattoos and piercings greets them. "To get into our part of the city, you need to jump. Who's gonna go first?" Naturally, everyone stays quiet. No one in their right mind would jump off a roof. 

"I'll go", Louis pipes up. Compared the the man, he seems tiny but his eyes hold a sense of authority, a strong will to prove everyone who says he's weak wrong and something else that he can't quite place yet. Louis takes a deep breath and disappears in the depths. He doesn't make a sound. 

"Who's next?" 

Harold walks forwards and steps on the ledge. It's really deep, he can't even see the bottom. But he closes his eyes and steps off the ledge. He falls and falls and lands in a net. Louis helps him off. "Well done, mate!"

"I wasn't the first", Harold replies. 

"Doesn't matter, at least you jumped! I'm Louis." Harold wants to reply but suddenly, his name sounds stupid. "You only get to pick once so choose wisely", Louis winks. Harold decides he likes him. 

"Harry", he says. "I'm Harry."

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment? :)


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